World

UK's new Brexit strategy won't inhibit trade deals – minister

British trade minister Liam Fox said on Wednesday he did not believe that Britain’s new Brexit strategy would inhibit its ability to agree trade deals with countries around the world, after two cabinet colleagues resigned over the policy. Former Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Brexit minister David Davis quit at the start of this week in protest over the strategy. Johnson said the plan would make it much more difficult to do trade deals.

Fox, like Davis and Johnson, was an enthusiastic backer of Britain’s decision to leave the European Union but he did not resign over the new approach. Asked what he would do if the Brexit plan ended up limiting Britain’s ability to conduct trade deals with non-EU countries, Fox said: “I don’t believe it does”.

“We think it is possible to negotiate independent trade policies after we leave the European Union.”